What sets Cabán apart, in addition to her pledge not to take any corporate political action committee money, is her holistic approach to addressing community and generational trauma as the root cause of crime. She’s the only candidate who talks about trying to eliminate crime in that way, which she says is a function of her experience representing over 1,000 clients as a public defender. For her, the decision to run “felt like just the next thing that I’m doing for my clients,” she told The Intercept in an interview. “Very much so the natural progression in my advocacy for my clients.”
Her background as a queer, Latina public defender from a low-income community is inextricable from her platform, she told the QUIP forum in February, because “my experiences matter,” she said. “That is not identity politics; that is me speaking to my understanding around intersectionality and the effects of individual and generational trauma on our communities,” Cabán told the audience, describing domestic violence, substance abuse, and mental illness in both her personal and family life.
Cabán also supports closing Rikers. And her office would decline to prosecute low-level marijuana offenses, fare evasion, airport taxis, welfare fraud, sex work, massage parlors, or unlicensed driving in any case.
She also wants to end cash bail for all crimes and thinks that only ending cash bail for nonviolent felonies ultimately causes more harm than good. “Then nothing is changing for anything that’s considered serious,” she told The Intercept. “There are a host of crimes on the books that are technically violent felonies, but there isn’t any violence involved,” she explained. “Burglary in the second degree is a violent felony. But also, under the law, if I go into a building and steal Amazon packages from the lobby, that’s a burglary in the second degree, and it’s a violent felony,” she said. “And it’s not the thing that people think about when you talk about violent crime.”
In addition to assigning assistant district attorneys to each community — a proposal that Lasak’s campaign has also adopted — Cabán plans to hold regular town halls and meetings with Queens residents. She would reinvest profits that the DA’s office typically receives from asset forfeitures into organizations and services selected by the community. “The idea that we can stop these things from happening in the first place by allowing our communities to decide how to reinvest in their families, in their schools, things that community members might suggest,” she told the QUIP forum.
Cabán thinks the size of the field is a good thing. “I think it’s great that there are so many people in the mix in this race,” she told The Intercept. But she echoed Gomez’s concerns. “I think it’s great that people are talking about criminal justice reform,” Cabán said. “I also see some of the dangers that come along with it. There are certainly folks that are getting in the mix that know the progressive playbook at this point.”
“They know the things to say, they’re out there,” Cabán explained. “And there seems to be a disconnect between knowing the policies and what you’re supposed to say, ’cause they’re right — and having that tie to our communities and that investment in making sure that these policies have the intended impacts. And that our communities are the ones that are at the forefront of forming the policies.”